


To Atlantis

by ami_ven



Series: Sheppard Brothers [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Community: mcsheplets, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 20:12:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1912248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ami_ven/pseuds/ami_ven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was nothing that could have prepared Dave Sheppard for seeing his home planet from space for the first time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Atlantis

**Author's Note:**

> written for LJ community "mcsheplets" prompt 179 "prepare"

There was nothing that could have prepared Dave Sheppard for seeing his home planet from space for the first time.

It had barely even registered that he was standing on the deck of a spaceship more advanced than anything NASA had even thought of, or that Jeannie Miller had grinned and moved to hug a blonde woman in a uniform jumpsuit, while various crewpersons continued working like two people hadn’t just appeared in a flash of light.

“It really is beautiful, isn’t it?” said the woman, coming to stand beside him. “I love being aboard ship when we bring new people up. It’s like seeing it for the first time myself, all over again.” She smiled and held out her hand. “Colonel Sam Carter, of the _General Hammond_.”

“That’s this ship,” Jeannie added, helpfully.

Dave finally managed to look away from the huge picture window— was it even a window? A force field?— and the view of Earth, to shake Carter’s hand. “It’s…” he began, still feeling overwhelmed. “Why aren’t we all floating around?”

“Artificial gravity,” said Carter, with a laugh. “It’s a fascinating piece of technology, we got it from the— Jeannie, wasn’t Mr. Sheppard read in on everything?”

“I gave him Daniel’s whole spiel,” the other woman replied. “But some things just have to be _seen_.”

“I’m sorry,” said Dave. “Where are my manners? I’m Dave Sheppard, but you already know that, colonel. John’s mentioned you, but I… now I understand why he’s had such a hard time talking to me. He lives in another galaxy— almost everything in his entire life is classified!”

“That, and he’s just stubborn,” Jeannie muttered, and Carter covered a smile.

Dave couldn’t help smiling, too. For all that there was to take in— and there was a lot, not just the fact that he was _in space_ , but also that there were aliens, and interplanetary travel, and a decade-long government cover-up— really, he was the most eager just to talk to his brother again. When Jeannie had appeared on his doorstop the day before, saying that John had sent her because they were family, sort of, and that if Dave wanted to know what his brother did for a living, he just had to sign a disclosure agreement… he’d barely skimmed half of the document before scrawling his name on the bottom and imploring Jeannie to tell him everything.

“Colonel?” said a crewman, interrupting his thoughts. “General Landry is ready for our guests.”

“Thank you,” said Carter. “Jeannie, Dave, tell your brothers I said hello. Lieutenant, beam them down.”

In another flash of light, Dave vanished and reappeared in a windowless conference room.

“Mrs. Miller, Mr. Sheppard?” said a man, from the doorway.

“Hello, Walter,” said Jeannie.

“Hello, ma’am. Everything is ready, and we’re about to start dialing Atlantis, if you’d like to come down to the ‘Gate Room.”

Dave followed Jeannie down a spiral staircase and through a concrete corridor, into a high-ceilinged room centered on a huge metal ring— the stargate. It was spinning, chevrons lighting up orange as Walter called out numbers. When he got to, “Chevron eight, locked,” a burst of what looked like water erupted from the empty center of the stargate, settling into a vertical pool.

“Atlantis, this is the SGC,” said Walter.

“ _This is Atlantis._ ” That was John’s voice, over the radio. “We’re receiving your IDC. The shield is down, come on through.”

Uniformed soldiers were moving wheeled crated through the ‘Gate Room, and one of them said, “Ma’am, sir, after you.”

Jeannie held out her hand. “It’s not nearly as bad as it looks.”

Dave took it, and they stepped through the wormhole.

He had seen pictures of Atlantis, in the multi-media presentation Jeannie had brought along, but the reality was so much _more_. Dave stopped still, staring, but Jeannie tugged him toward a small group that was waiting to one side of the room.

“Hello, John,” he said, a little hesitant.

“Dave,” said John. 

He looked different than when Dave had last seen him, at Dad’s funeral. Happier, maybe. Comfortable, in his uniform, in an alien city, with these people. Dave remembered Ronon from the funeral, and he recognized the others from John’s letters. Teyla, and her little son, Torren— who were _actual aliens_ , like Ronon— and Rodney, Jeannie’s brother. And if Dave was reading John’s letters right… maybe Dave’s brother-in-law, before too long.

“John Sheppard, is that all you have to say to your brother?” Jeannie demanded.

“I…” John said, awkwardly, and Dave laughed.

“We can work on it,” he said, then frowned. “Do you… feel something? Like, a weird sort of hum…?”

“Oh, my god,” said Rodney, pulling away from Jeannie’s hug. “Does he have the gene? Did anybody even think to test him? It’s _genetic_ , you realize and—”

“Okay, first stop the infirmary,” said John. “Dave, welcome to Atlantis.”

Dave wasn’t sure what was going on, but as he followed his brother down a corridor that seemed to brighten, just a little when they walked through it, he figured that he had plenty of time to figure it out. 

THE END


End file.
